Under the Moonlight
by shadowsteed
Summary: Their escape from the castle was thwarted by an unexpected visit... but their ordeal might yet bring them happiness after all, for happiness always lies when you least expect it...
1. Chapter 1

_Hallo everyone, so recently I have discovered the wonderful musical Tanz der Vampire, saw a few subtitled versions on youtube, and totally fell in love with it. To be honest, I have been obsessing over it for the last few weeks, and now I have decided to write a fanfiction, so I hope you will like it. So here's the first chapter._

At first it seemed like there was no way to escape, and Alfred's body was frozen in fear as he stood there holding the candelabra, but suddenly, once again, the professor appeared at his side again and using another, they made a cross and placed it between themselves and the raging beasts. Immediately, there were sounds of many voices screaming in pain as the cross worked it's magic and the sound of the counts deep voice was clearly heard above the others, as he screamed at his monstrous human servant Koukol to fetch them. His voice, usually so dripping with sarcasm was now filled with anger, and something else Alfred couldn't quite place. But he didn't waste time thinking about it. Instead, he turned around, took Sarah's hand into his, and quickly dragged her out of the ballroom, following the professor. He didn't notice that the girl was simply too week to fight him, or to even protest, he just wanted to get out of this hellish place and he took her compliance as a sign that she wanted to go.

He wasn't sure how exactly did they manage to find a way through this dark labyrinth, where every corner looked the same shrouded in shadows, and every corridor seemed endlessly long, but after a while, they stood in front of the main doors. Doors that were strangely opened. As they looked around frantically, and backed towards the entrance of the castle, they could hear the voices of the wildened vampires coming closer, but as they wanted to turn and run, they suddenly felt a cold, iron grip of a small, but strong hands upon their shoulders. For a moment, they were kept firmly in place, before the person lightly pushed them back into the castle (light enough that they nearly flew a few meters forward) and closed the great door. Only then did they have chance to turn around and look at her.

It was a young woman, a girl almost, not much then twenty for sure, and it was appearant that she was a vampire. She wore a simple, dark blue dress decorated with silver lining, and her face, though pale, with dark shadows under her bright blue eyes, was beautiful, crowned by a waterfall of dirty blond hair, on which she wore a simple, but beautiful silver circlet that made her look like a princess. Not at all did she look like those monsters that rose from the graveyard, nor did she looked as gloomy as the count did, if anything she reminded Alfred of Herbert.

And speaking of Herbert, the commotion behind them now sounded discomfortingly close, and they were still standing there, faced with this new vampire, who didn't quite voiced her intentions yet. She just kept staring at them, looking them over, before her eyes settled on Sarah. The vampiress saw the bite marks on her neck, and she studied her face for a moment, before lightly sniffing the air.

And then, suddenly, the count and the rest of the vampires appeared in the hallway and they quickly made their way over to them. But then, the count suddenly stopped, so to say, dead in his tracks, as he saw the person standing by the door. If it was even possible, his face seemed to pale a bit more than it was before. She too, looked at him and her eyes seemed to be hiding so many emotions in that moment, before she composed herself and smiled.

In that moment, Alfred tried his last chance to slip past her devided attention and bolted for the door, but she caught him quickly and flunged him backwards, towards the waiting vampires. She noticed how the girl stumbled along with him, as he was still holding her firmly in his grasp, and she snarled quitly, more to herself then to him, and yet the sound sent shivers down his spine. Then, she finally spoke.

"First of all, young man," she said as she glanced at Alfred. "Be so kind and release the young lady in your grasp. I don't take kindly to men holding women against their will and it looks like she doesn't want to leave." Her voice, that rang around them like a sound of gentle mountain stream, was completely calm now, but there was an edge to it that told them that it wasn't a request.

"But I am not..." Alfred stuttered, but then he looked at Sarah and he finally saw how tightly he was gripping her tiny hand and the expression in her eyes. They were still quite distant, but they were now widened in panic and fear, and that fear was not directed at the vampires, but on him and the professor. Confused and horrified, he released her and to his surprise, she immediately took off the join the Count, and surprise slowly turned to heartbrake as she pressed herself against the vampire's chest and he wrapped her in his cloak, hiding her under his protective wings.

He turned back and he gasped, as he saw that some of the vampires moved silently towards the door to block their exit, as if there was a chance to escape and he realised that the count was the only one keeping them from draining him and the professor dry. Then he felt movement behind him and he watched as the blood vampire walked gracefully towards the count, and she bowed in front of him. The count, who too seemed to gain back his composure, silently motioned for her to stand, and she did so, a gentle smile once more appearing on her face. It was strange, but the count was obviously speechless for some reason. She stepped closer to him, and whispered a few words. The count frowned a bit, but then he nodded and she walked back to the little group of escapies. She looked around, observing the gathered croud of the undead, her eyes momentarily lingering on Herbert, and then she smiled, a wide, toothy grin of happiness and Alfred shuddered when he saw her fangs, which didn't seem any less scary than any other fangs he had seem so far.

"Well, I appologize for being a bit late," she started cheerfully. "But it's good to be back."


	2. Chapter 2

_I forgot to tell you, everyone has of course their own preference when it comes to the count, and you can of course imagine whoever you like, I'll be glad if you coud write me who it is. :) But my favourite is and always will be the wonderful Kevin Tarte, and this is how the count looks in my story._

Alfred stood quietly by the window, watching as the sun outside was slowly making it's way across the sky. He still had no idea what exactly happened last night, and his stunned brain was still not quite capable of coming up with an explanation. He was still alive, that much he knew. So was the professor, who was sitting in a chair next to him. After yesterday's unexpected events the count had simply thrown them, very reluctantly, into the library for the rest of the night and the following day, with the reassurances of their death should they try to escape, and that Koukol will bring them something to eat later.

The professor, who was always ready to make the best of things, immediately buried his nose in a nearest phylosophical book, and he hadn't spoken much since, so Alfred was left on his own. He tried to read as well first, but his nervous mind wasn't able to concentrate, and so, after a while, he put the book aside, and he went to the window, watching as the sun eventualy began to rise. It was nearly midday now.

He was thinking, he was doing a lot of thinking. He was thinking about Sarah, who, by the time they ended up here, had finished her transformation. He didn't want to think about her this way, no he didn't, but the way she looked at him when she suddenly turned her face from the count to look at him; the more he tried to forget, the more was his mind filled frightning thoughts as to what would happen if they did manage to escape and the count wasn't there to hold her back.

Speaking of, he really was wondering why they were still alive. Not that he was complaining about that, but they were trying to spoil the count's plans, they tried to kill not only him, but his son too, and since he wasn't that foolish, he was sure that the vampires knew about that, and they crashed the ball and tried to steal the count's chosen one. It wasn't like the count didn't have a good reason to kill them. So he wasn't quite sure what to make of all this. And he wondered about the strange newcomer. Who could she possibly be that the very sight of her caused the count to lose any interest in his revenge?

He wasn't feeling exactly save, but at least he hoped no vampires will get inside this library. Last night, just an hour before sunrise, he could here a familiar voice behind the door. It was Herbert, asking his father if he could go inside to visit his "darling", but the count has forbidden it with a voice, that sounded actually quite frustrated. It seemed the lord of the castle wasn't sure what to do with them, and it troubled Alfred to think about what will happen when the count will finally make a decition. He dreaded the slowly approaching evening.

He was thinking about Herbert too. Yesterday, during the night, when he was still quite shaken from just being here, the young vampire scared him to no end, but now, in daylight, it was easier to think about Herbert as a person and not as a vampire. He realised that the viscount wasn't so bad towards him up until to the point when he bared his fangs at him. Alfred knew now that Herbert had missunderstood him having the book as a sign of him being in love with vampire, and that the happiness of the discovery probably got the better of him. Alfred didn't know why he felt the need to defend the vampire in front of himself, it was probably his own, kind nature, but this was how he tried to reason with himself. Still, it didn't help much, for the feeling of Herbert's teeth slowly descending towards his neck, was still enough to send him into a fit of panic, no matter if Herbert meant it or not.

It was a few hours later when the door to the library unexpectedly opened and in them appeared Koukol, putting a tray of something on the floor before quickly slamming the door behind him, locking them in without sparing them so much as a look. The professor was sleeping soundly in an armchair, Koukol's interruption of their silence not bothering him at all. Alfred envied the old man, for he couldn't close an eye, let alone sleep since the nightmare after their arrival.

Carefully, he walked to the door, and took the tray from the floor to take a closer look at it. There were a few pieces of a roughty cut bread, which seemed a bit mouldy, but fortunately didn't look so bad, next to it was something that looked like several strips of dried meat, although Alfred wasn't quite so sure about the state of that, or about it's smell. And next to the meat was an apple, which looked, although the fruit was obviously old and it had more wrinkles than professor Abronsius, like the most edible thing on the tray. He wasn't very happy about this, but it could have been worse, and he was hungry, so he took the apple and a few pieces of bread, but as he was about to bite into the fruit, his eyes fell on the sleeping figure of his mentor, and he felt a pang of guilt in his chest. He put the apple back on the tray, and walked to the professor, gently shaking him from his sleep.

"Professor, sir." he said appologetically. "I'm sorry, I wouldn't wake you, but... Koukol brought us some food and I thought... We should perhaps eat it while it still looks we can eat it."

Professor Abronsius just growled something under his breath and sat up straight in his chair, before taking the tray from Alfred's hands. He took the apple, and after looking at it for a while with a doubtful expression, he took a bite a bite, and Alfred could immediately tell from his grimase, that it must have tasted quite bitter.

"Please eat, professor. You need to keep your strenght up." he said, but the professor just rolled his eyes.

"What for, my good boy? We are stuck here, waiting for the count to finally decide what to do with us. It's not going to take long now."

"But... maybe the count will be in a good mood or something..." Alfred mused, tearing a piece of bread before it into his mouth. "Maybe that vampire we saw yesterday persuaded him to..."

"Don't talk with your mouth full, boy," the professor said with slight annoyance. "Yes, that was an interesting turn of events. But still, it's either we get drained and killed or we get drained and turned. They are vampires. We are humans. Pure logic."

After that the professor continued his meal in silence, and Alfred decided to leae him be and move back to his window. He looked outside and sighed. The sun started falling down, evening was approaching.


	3. Chapter 3

The night came at last, and the castle was already alive with restless souls. The count of Krolock was slowly walking along the battlements of his castle, looking down on the cemetery below him. It was a cold night, there were getting colder with the progressing winter, but that did not bother the old vampire. No, it was his mind that plaqued him, for his thoughts he could hardly avoid. His blue eyes were distant, as his mind wondered through the centuries that passed, and those which might or might not come. He let out a long, troubled sigh.

"You haven't changed a bit since I last saw you." a voice rang behind him and he whirled around, his eyes landing on the smaller figure of the blond haired vampire. "I... I am not very fond of change." he breathed. "I hope the hospitality of my castle have been to your liking."

The somewhat amused look she had on her face now softened. "As it always was, Your Excelency."

At that, he turned from her, so she couldn't see what passed through his eyes. Slowly, she approached him and calmly stood next to him for a few minutes before speaking again. "Why isn't your princess with you?"

"She is... feeding. I have brought her a meal from the village."

"Alright, a different question. Why are you not with her?"

"I needed some time for myself."

She sighed. "You shouldn't be brooding so much." she commented, but, not getting any answer from him, she changed the subject for now. "I have come to talk to you about our guests."

He looked at her now, watching her curiously. "Why did you asked me to spare their lives? They tried to destroy everything."

"Oh, maybe, but try to look at it from their point of view. It was foolish of them to come here, but they have only come to save an innocent girl from the clutches of the evil vampire. That is their point of view." she added when she saw the sharp look he gave her. "They should not be punished for their foolishness, but rather praised for their courage. Especially the boy."

"Then why did you stopped them from escaping? Why haven't you just taken her from them and let them go?" he asked, looking down at the courtyard.

She followed his eyes and saw a few vampires roaming down there. Some of them were already fed for the night, and they seemed to be engaged in a friendly conversation.

"I am not sure... not yet." she said, and she smiled. "Maybe I should have. But then again, they might have returned anyway. Maybe I simply didn't want them to leave under such... unfriendly circumstances."

"Like I said, they tried to ruin everything I planned."

"Well, and you did try to have your little flock to drain them dry, so you are probably even." she said. "All I'm asking is for you to let them live for a while. Let them wonder the castle freely, let them watch and explore, let them see what it really means to be a vampire, and maybe then, they will understand that there was no need for anything they did. The professor will surely appreciate your library, and I believe your son already appreciates the boy's presence."

"The boy, Alfred, he hasn't seemed overally enthuastic of the prospect."

"Then your son have surely made a mistake somewhere. I saw him only for a minute, and he seemed to be like a very kind and caring soul, but also very nervous and shy. We both know that is a dangerous combination when it comes to your son. If Herbert desires his trust more than his blood, then he must make an effort. Turning someone against their will is not the right way to go." She fell silent and an unpleasant stillness have settled in the air around them.

"You mean... like you were?" he suddenly said, and she stiffened, as he turned to her fully. She looked at him, and studied his eyes. She took a deep as if wanting to speak, but then she paused and shook her head. "I don't believe this is the right time for this conversation, count." she said and the voice took a pleading tone.

He nodded then, and once again, he turned from her sight. "Very well. You saved my love, and I am grateful to you, for that I grant your wish. If you'll be so kind and bring our "guests" to me, I will have a talk with them."

She smiled behind his back, and came closer. She raised her hand, and after a moment of hesitation, she placed it lightly on his arm. When he didn't shake it off, she released a breath. "Thank you." she said. "Now, stop this brooding. Go to your Sarah. I will collect the two and I'll find you then."

He didn't answer and she turned away to leave, but then she stopped. "Your Excelency?" she asked softly and he turned his head slightly to unknowledge her.

"I don't believe you have forgotten my name over the years." she said with a smile. "No, I haven't." he replied, and for a second, she stared at him expectantly, before she realised he will not speak further, and with a long dissapointed sigh, she dissapeared. None of them have noticed the pair of light blue eyes that watched them from afar to hear the whole conversation.


	4. Chapter 4

The soft footsteps of her shoes echoed within the hallway as she was making her way towards the library. In the dark corridor, barely lit by a few torches on the walls, she had no problems to see, so her step was swift and steady. Suddenly, she stopped, when she smelled another vampire very close, but then she smiled, as she recognised the smell.

"You can come out now." she said, amusement as she was faced with a vampire with long, golden hair, now tied in a ponytail with a ribbon, whose gentle features almost made him look like a woman. Still, she had to admit, he was probably the most beautiful young vampire she has ever seen.

He stepped out of the shadows and she noticed the nervous look on his face as he approached her. He was so cute when he looked like that.

"Herbert." she said softly, and smiled as her eyes reflected the happiness she felt. She was happy to see the viscount, for as far as she remembered, he was always nice her, even when she was still...

"It's good to see you again. I was always hoping you would return one day." he smiled at her and she returned it, and then, unexpectedly, he hugged her. She was stunned for a moment, but then she relexed and placed her hands on his back. "It's good to see you too, Herbert." she said and gently freed herself. "But I am in hurry. I was tasked with retrieving the professor and the boy and bringing them to your father."

"I know." he said and she raised her eyebrows. "I have... I couldn't help but overhear your talk." he answered her unspoken question and she smiled, showing her fangs. "Isn't it a little improper for a viscount such as yourself to evesdrop?" she laughed in amusement, but then her face became more serious again. "Is there something I can do for you, Herbert?" she asked, although she was fairly sure what he was going to inquire about.

"I just wanted to know... I wanted to ask for your advice." There he paused for a bit before continuing. "Did you mean what you said? Do you really thing I still have a chance with Alfred without, you know..."

She smiled, looked around, and then she took his hand and led him to a small resting area in a corner of the corridor, and they sat in small armchairs that stood there.

"Herbert," she told him, still keeping his hand in her own. "Tell me what happened between the two of you."

"I tried to bite him..." he whispered, and then his voice got stronger, as he saw the 'I know that much' look she gave him. "I didn't really mean to do that, I just had a moment of weakness. I was hungry and he was just standing there, shaking from head to toe, looking so sweet... and then I discovered the book of poems he had and I..."

"And you thought he was in love, with you..." she said knowingly, letting go of his hand and putting her own gently on his shoulder.

"Oh, Herbert, I can hardly say that I really know you, but I always thought of you as the sweetest boy I have ever met. But, you are a vampire and therefore you are a bit forward with your intentions. Forcing yourself on someone in any sense isn't the right way to go about this. How do you expect that boy to like you and to trust you, if you scare him to death. Herbert, when he looks at you, he doesn't see you, he sees your fangs, you should have known that."

With her every word, his expression became more and more sad. "But... what should I do now?"

She smiled. "Well, first of all, have you thought about appologizing? Nobody wants to do that, Herbert, but it always helps. Like I said, you have to make an effort. And more self-control would certainly help. If you are lucky, you might be able to see him tommorow and you can talk."

"But if you go to them now, maybe I can come with you..." he started, but vawed it off with her hand. "No Herbert, I don't think that would be a very good idea."

"But I want to see him now. If my darling is so scared, then perhaps..."

"Then perhaps it would be better of you not to make it any worse. Patience, my dear friend. They are going to have to deal with your father now, I imagine they will have enough of vampires for this night. Your darling Alfred will need his sleep. Give it until tommorow. I am going now, it's not a good idea to keep your father waiting. But I will pass your regards to him for you."

She gently patted his back, before raising gracefully to her feet. She made a few steps, but before she was gone, she heard him called out to her, and she turned. "Thank you, Leone." he said, and instantly, her expression turned into of sheer happiness, as she heard him say her name. And with that, she turned on her heel and left.


End file.
